


Bad Reactions

by jujubeans4270



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Animal Transformation, Cat Kuroo Tetsurou, Cat Yachi, F/M, shifting au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-28
Updated: 2019-09-28
Packaged: 2020-10-30 03:31:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,581
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20807831
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jujubeans4270/pseuds/jujubeans4270
Summary: Yachi Hitoka didn't react well to things. Cat nip, it turns out, is one of them.But bad reactions can lead to good things.





	Bad Reactions

Yachi had always felt out of place.She was a descendant of a long line of crow-shifters and, on her 10th birthday when she didn’t change, her mother made the decision that if nothing changed by highschool, she would be sent to Karasuno to “learn to be a crow”.

That ended up backfiring on her the second she joined the volleyball team.

Sure, there were crows on the team, but there were also non shifters and one of the captains was a dog, and their teacher was a cat. Which is how she ended up in this situation to begin with.

The situation being all her bags packed and her sleeping on Takeda-sensei’s couch for being a… cat shifter.

“Yachi?” He sat down beside her.

“Yes, sensei?”

“You don’t have to join us if you don’t want.” he scratched behind her ear, causing her to purr slightly. “Everyone remembers how uncomfortable the first shift is. They would understand not wanting to go out to get used to it.”

She shook her head and felt her tail wrap around her ankle. “I’m actually very comfortable like this… I just am scared of disappointing everyone.”

“Yachi,” Takeda stopped his petting, “you will never be a disappointment to me. Just don’t use the couch as a scratching post when you shift, got it?”

She stared up at him, realizing for the first time in the past few weeks that maybe she would be okay with being a cat. “Of course, sensei.”

* * *

Something smelled good… Yachi sighed. Like catnip and warm milk mixed with honey. 

“Yachi!” Hinata bounded up to her. “Let me introduce you to Kenma! He’s a cat too!”

“Shoyou…” she heard a sigh, “you can’t just tell anybody that I’m a cat.”

Yachi looked and saw the pudding haired boy that Hinata couldn’t shut up about. “It’s not a problem!” She shook her head. “I won’t mind!”

“You’re a cat too…” he smelled the air. “Like graham crackers…”

“Um… yeah. I guess?

"Is it a recent shift?"

She nodded. 

"I keep catnip in my bag if you need some."

She smiled. 

That's how 20 minutes before lights out she was knocking at the door for Nekoma. 

"Oya oya?"

The door slid open. And it was NOT Kenma. 

"Um..." She shifted in place. 

"Kuroo, don't scare her." She heard some rustling and then Kema appeared behind him. "Here you go."

" Thanks." She gave a quick now and scurried away, hearing a faint _ graham crackers _ as she rounded the corner. 

That night she discovered that catnip before bed was _ NOT _a good idea. She was exhausted and out of it and felt fuzzy. She couldn't keep her ears or tail hidden and at one point she's pretty sure she was about to shift before Kiyoko-san called her name. 

She was coming out of the bathroom when the floor swam and she was suddenly floating. 

"You don't look so good."

Nekoma's captain was holding her waist, keeping her feet slightly off the ground. It was oddly more grounding then standing had been. 

"Catnip hit me funny last night." She muttered. "Now my heads fuzzy and the floor moves." 

"Makes your tongue loose too…" she felt him sigh. "Kay… up ya go!" He turned around and hoisted her into a piggy back ride. "Better make sure your captain doesn't kill me Ya-chan."

As the two slowly made their way back to the gym, Kuroo felt her tail brushing against the back of his thigh, causing him to twitch every now and then. And then he felt her nose in the crook of his neck.

“What’cha smelling, Ya-chan”

“You smell like ginger snaps.” she whispered.

“Damn… what catnip did Kenma give you last night?” He shifted her weight around and cursed.

“Are you a kitty too?”

“Yep.”

“That’s why you smell like ginger snaps!” She giggled.

“Yep.”

“Can I see your ears?”

He rolled his eyes and relaxed. Out the black ears with little white tufts in the middle came and she squeaked.

“They’re so cute!” She nosed at them, causing them to twitch.

“YACHI!” Suga appeared around the corner. “I FOUND HER!” He called over his shoulder and ran towards the two of them.

“Suga-san! Captain-san here is a kitty too!” She waved and cause the two of them to shake a little before he planted his feet.

“What did you do to her?” Suga glared.

“She's having a bad reaction to some catnip from last night.” Kuroo started backing up.

“Kenma said I could have some. And I did. But then I was super excited. And everything smelled good. And I couldn’t sleep. And now I’m tired and everything is fuzzy and the floor moves.”

Daichi came around the corner with Kenma and Hinata. 

“What happened to her!” Daichi advanced.

“She’s crashing from the catnip.” Kenma answered for him. “She was really anxious last night and she wanted some. It happens sometimes.” He shrugged.

“I can take her back to her room.” Daichi held out his hands.

“I don’t wanna.” Yachi clinged to Kuroo. “He’s warm.”

“Kuroo needs to play, Yachi.” Suga tried. “Let him go.”

“But he warm. He smells like warm cookies.” She whined.

“How about we go to the gym Yachi, and I give you my sweatshirt, and you can sleep off the catnip?” Kuroo offered.

“...” She blew on his ear. “Fine. I guess that works.”

So the group made it back to the gym, and Kuroo laid her on a stack of extra towels and put his sweatshirt over her head. A duffle bag was used as a pillow and Kenma threw a blanket that he carried with him for naps over her. She was out before he even pulled away. 

Kuroo retract his ears and stretched out his back. "Damn catnip." He muttered as he rolled his shoulders. 

" Do crashes like this happen often?" Daichi asked as he examined the sleeping first year. 

Kuroo shrugged. "I've crashed a few times. Kenma does every now and then. Yaku has only ever crashed so he's been really careful about not having anything to do with the stuff. Honestly I just depends on the person."

Daichi pursed his lips. 

" How many cats on your team?"

"Her."

Kuroo stared at him. "That's not good. As independent as we all are, we're pack animals just as much as the next four legged creatures. Just like murders or flocks."

" She's got Takeda-sens-"

" Let give her my number and Kenma's. She needs to have other cats her age." Kuroo reached into a backpack and grabbed some paper and a pen. "Make sure she gets it." And he walked away. 

* * *

Yachi left the training camp not really interacting with the rest of the cats besides Kenma. She did add Kuroo's number to her phone, as well as Kenma's, but she didn't really think about it until the next time she got into some catnip. 

She was having, as Takeda-sensei was most comfortable expressing it, "that time of the month". To help with the effects of that, he bought her some low effect catnip. As is was wearing off, the room spun and she reached for her phone. 

"_Who be this?" _Kuroo's voice came over the speaker. 

"Kuroo-san?" She whimpered. 

_"Shit. Is this Yachi?" _

"The floors moving again..."

_ "What's going on?" _ She heard a crash followed by a call for Kenma to call Daichi or Suga or one of the other members of the team. _ "Ya-chan… talk to me." _He soothed. 

"I got some catnip from Takeda-sensei… for the pain. And it didn't work." She felt herself starting to cry. 

_ " Shhhh. Ya-chan it's okay. Talk to me. Talk to me until someone gets there." _ She heard Kenma calling that Noya and Hinata were in the area and on there way. _ "Tell me where to find the key for Noya and Chibi-chan" _

" There's a rock… by the door… why did I have to be a shifter…" 

_" What do you mean, Ya-chan?" _

" I wasn't a good crow like my mom wanted. I'm not a good cat…"

_ " I think you're and adorable little kitty. Kenma showed me pictures. You've got freckles as a cat." _

" Really?"

_ "And don't worry about the catnip. Lots of shifters don't like catnip. Yaku doesn't. Kenma has his bad days. I've had bad days. So don't think that makes you any less of a cat okay?" _

" Thanks, Kuroo-san." She sniffled.

_ " How bout I sing a song?" _

" Kay."

So Kuroo sang Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and Mary had a Little Lamb and he kept singing until she heard the door opening. 

_ "Can you put them on the phone, Ya-chan?" _

She handed the phone to Noya. 

They wrapped her in blankets and surrounded her with pillows and when she ultimately ended up shifting completely, they pet her head and snuggled her face. 

She called Kuroo when it was all over and told him she was never gonna touch the stuff again. 

* * *

They went to watch a practice match with Nekoma and some other school in Tokyo when she saw it happen to them. They all started acting funny, and when she saw Yaku barely able to stand on his own she knew what was going on. She ran down the bleachers and up to Nekomata informing him that his players had been drugged. 

The water tested positive for catnip. 

She looked around at the chaos, the other team being issued an immediate and formal suspension. She slapped her cheeks, gathered her courage, and issues the order. 

"Taketora needs a laser pointer. Kenma needs to be picked up. Lev need to be tempted. Get them all by Yaku." She called out.

" I'll get Kenma!" Hinata suggested. "Noya-senpai, come help!"

"I'll make sure they don't hurt him." Asahi chased after. 

" I'll get Taketora." Ryuu offered. 

"I'll get Lev." Yamaguchi grabbed some of his feathers that he had shed and tied them together with a little rubber band. 

"I'll get Kuroo." Yachi walked over to the third year, who was curled up in the corner of the gym by their duffle bags. 

"Ya...chan..." He whispered. 

"What's going on?" She squatted down to hear him. 

"I don't… feel… so good..."

"Come on." She released her tail, dangling it in front of his nose, brushing it occasionally, getting him accustomed to her touch. 

"Don't… wanna..."

She touched his shoulder. "Doesn't a pile up sound nice?"

His ears twitched. 

"Can't have a pile up just the two of us…"

His glazed over eyes started to focus on the tail flicking in front of him. 

"Commear." She prompted. "I'll make sure to scratch your ears the way you said you like."

" That's not… fair… Ya-chan… using… ear rubs…"

"Common…" she backed away. 

She kept flicking her tail as the two of them scooted halfway across the gym to wear the rest of the team had pushed towels and blankets and backs, forming a wall around the dazed cats. Yachi sat down in the middle of them, putting Kuroo's head in her lap and rubbing softly behind his ears. She let Yaku curl up around her back. Taketora had shifted completely at that point and was curled up with Lev in a blanket in the sun. Kenma had shifted completely too, draping himself over her shoulders. 

She sat there and waited, until finally they had all shifted into cat form, better able to process the catnip left in their systems and some had even started to change back. Taketora thanked her profusely. Lev told her he owed her dinner. Yaku was embarrassed, to say the least, but thanked her for watching over him before stumbling after Lev. Kenma woke up, nodded at her, then said that he wanted a soda and wandered off. 

Only Kuroo was left, sleeping in her lap.

"Do you want me to take him, young lady?" Nekomata offered. 

She shook her head. " It's the least I can do."

Nekomata nodded and went back to his office in the gymnasium. Karasuno was still sitting there. Some were tossing a ball back and forth, some studying, only Daichi was still staring at her. He got up and then resettled in the little pile that the cats had made. 

"How did you notice?" He asked. 

"It's just instinct I guess..." She whispered. 

"And if this happens to you?"

" I like being warm. And in my cat form. And snuggling." She blushed. 

He nodded and then stood. "I'll bring your bag over."

* * *

She was nervous. 

Suga had dressed her. Kenma had set it up. Takeda-sensei approved it.

She was just about to get off the bus to meet Kuroo for their first ever date. 

He shin length cream dress fluttered in the wind as she got off the bus and she tightened her scarf and raised the collar of her grey coat against the wind. 

"Ya-chan?"

She turned around and there he was. Dark blue coat, cream scarf, cheeks red from the wind like he had been waiting there for a while. 

"Hi..." She blushed. 

"Hi..." He smiled down at her, holding out his arm. When she finally took it he positively beamed. "Ready?"

She nodded. 

Lunch was perfect, they avoided the subject of catnip and anything else that was generally panic inducing for either of them and when Yachi was waiting for the us back she stood on her tiptoes and kissed him on the cheek. "Thank you." She whispered and then quickly hopped on the bus before he could see her freak out. 

She didn't expect him, the very next weekend, ringing the doorbell to Takeda-sensei's new 2 bedroom apartment, a cake box is hand and his lips on hers. 

"Ku-"

"Thanks, Ya-chan." He whispered.

"Same… Tetsuro."

He kissed her again and smiled into her lips. " I'm here to talk to Takeda-sensei. Is he in?"

She stood aside and let him into the apartment. "He's been expecting you."

The door closed behind him and he took a deep breath reaching for Yachi's hand. 

"Don't worry, Tetsuro." She smiled.

He nodded and laced their fingers together, indicating he was ready. 

"Takeda-sensei!" She called. 

"Yeah?"

"Kuroo is here to see you!" She kissed him on the cheek. 

"Perfect. He can stay for dinner."

* * *

It took five years after that day for Kuroo to go to Takeda's for the next important conversation he needed to have. He had been there before, to pick up Hitoka or have dinner with the man who had raised the cat he had fallen in love with. 

"Why should I let you marry Hitoka?" 

"Because, ever since she sat with me at that game, I knew that she was the only person I would be able to risk everything and anything for." He ducked his head and added a quick _ sir _. 

Takeda smiled at him. “Well, I guess I should ask when you plan on asking her then.”

* * *

Kuroo asked her at home. Surrounded by blankets and pillows that they had piled on their bed to watch some random television show. She had told him that Hinata had been making fun of her for acting more married than he and Tobio do and he just said “then why don’t we?”

She turned around, eyes wide, and he reached into his nightstand to get the ring.

“I was waiting for the perfect time.” He opened the box. “I didn't think it would be now.” He took the little silver ring out. “So why don’t we?”

Yachi smiled and took the ring out of his fingers. “I think… it’s the best idea you’ve ever had.”


End file.
